Elizabeth f



(No Model.)

B. F. MGCARTNEY.

BICYCLE GARMENT.

11 TTHNEYS.

lPatented Aug. 18, 1896.

w/mssses;

l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIZABETIIF. MCCARTNEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BICYCLE-GARMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 566,004, dated August18, 1896. Application filed May 14,1896. VSerial No. 591,487. (Nomodel.)

To a/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIZABETH F. MCCART- NEY, a resident of the city,county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and ImprovedBicycle-Garment, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to bicycle-garments, and has for its object toproduce a bicyclegarment which may be worn upon a bicycle and which hasall the appearance of an ordinary skirt, so that when the wearer wishesto wear the garment in other situations and localities it may be donewithout attracting such special attention to the wearer as abicycle-garment would attract in the absence of a bicycle.

To this end my invention consists inthe construction hereinafter setforth and claimed.

My invention will be understood by referring to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure l is a front view, partly broken away, of agarment embodying my invention, the same being shown draped on a iigure.Fig. 2 is a section of the skirt on line 2 2 of Fig.` l, and Fig. 3 isfront or face view of the internal take-up It is a well-known fact amongdressmakers and others that the reason bicyclegarments, so called, havenot come into such extensive use is, among others, that the garmentgives to the wearer an appearance which, in the absence of a bicycle, isliable to attract considerable attention, especially upon the street. Itis also well known that the ordinary skirt is inapplicable for use as abicyclegarment, for the reason that the back breadth thereof is liableto catch in the rear wheel or sprocket-chain of the bicycle. AccordinglyI have devised a garment which, having the appearance of an ordinaryskirt, will not attract attention to the wearer when she wears it apartfrom a bicycle, and which is so constructed that the back breadth willnot be liable to catch or draggle in the wheel or sprocket-chain.

In the drawings forming part hereof, A is a skirt,which may be of theordinary form and of any suitable length. The skirt is preferably of theform and length shown. In the interior of this skirt I attach a take-up.(Clearly shown in Fig. l.) This take-up is exhibited in Fig. 2 andcomprises a plurality of breadths or patterns of a substantially arcshape; that is to say, each of these breadths or patterns is shown asconsisting of an arc-shaped piece of cloth bounded by the curved line land curved line 2, substantially parallel to the line l and end lines 3and 4, these four'lines bounding the breadth a, the breadth h, which 6ois only partly shown, being of similar size and configuration. These twobreadths a b are laid one upon the other and joined along their centerspreferably by lines of stitches 5 6, so as to make a ltake-up which,when folded 6 5 along the line of its center, has the form of fourjoined leg-sections c d e f, disconnected from the skirt at the upperedges. This takeup is secured at or about its middle, that is to say,about on the lines 5 6, to the middle 7o of the front of the garment,preferably by a row of stitches 7, the ends of the sections e f beingsecured to the interior of the back of the skirt at one side of the saidback, preferably by rows of stitches S. The remaining leg-sections c clare secured in a vertical direction by their ends to the interior of theback of the side of the skirt opposite to the side where the sections ef are secured, preferably by stitches 9 9. 8o

By referring to Fig. l it will be observed that this take-up is entirelyconcealed by the skirt and receives the legs of the wearer, one legpassing between the sections e f and the other leg passing between thesections cd, the said take-up surrounding the legs only at or about theknees. It will be seen that the distance between the take-ups Where theyare secured to the skirt is less than the distance of the skirt properbetween these points. 9o For this reason it will be obvious that whenthe garment is worn upon a bicycle the knees rising and falling willdraw forward the takeup, thus pulling forward the rear or full portionof the skirt and drawing it away from o5 the rear wheel and thesprocket-chain, at the same time thereby preventing the skirt properfrom being tightly drawn around the hips and unduly exposing the form ofthe rider.

In addition to the advantages which I-have Ioo before outlined mybicycle-garment has an additional advantage from a sanitary and hygeniepoint of view which need not here be pointed out at length, as it isbelieved to be entirely obvious from the structure 'of the garment.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A bicycle-garment combining in one structure the followinginstrumentalities combined substantially as described, to wit: a skirt Ahaving secured ina Vertical direction to the interior at the middle, ofthe front thereof, a take-up comprisinga plurality of leg-sections ofless height than the skirt, ends of the said leg-sections being securedin a Vertical direction to the interior of the skirt at the rear thereofand on opposite sides, and being disconnected from the skirt at theupper edges ELIZABETH F. M CCARTNEY.

Witnesses:

GEO. E. MORSE, CHARLES E. SMITH.

